ANU AND OTHERS: ELEMENTS IN PUTU WIJAYA'S ANU THAT KEEP THE READER GUESSING

Written language is supposed to make it possible for the reader to know what the writer wants to communicate to him. That is to say, its function is to inform him of what the writer intends to communicate to him. When reading the script of Anu, a certain play written by Putu Wijaya, however, the reader would normally find it somehow impossible to get a complete message, however capable he might be. Bits of information concerning the content, through no linguistic fault of the writer's, would somehow keep escaping the reader. This reveals that various elements in the writing enable it at same time to inform and not to infor

Websterisms: In Search of Noah\u27s Headwords

Noah Webster\u27s An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) is a browser\u27s paradise, revealing many words whose meaning has changed since Noah\u27s time and others that lie idiosyncratically defined. I offer fifty of Webster\u27s definitions below, and challenge the reader to guess the headwords that Webster was trying to define. To make the task more approachable, wordlengths are provided for the to-be-discovered headwords, which are listed in alphabetical order of their appearance in the dictionary. All of these headwords, if not Webster\u27s definitions, should prove to be familiar to readers of Word Ways

Bahasa Melayu (BM) Screen Reader for Visually Impaired Internet Users

Currently, the Internet usage is rising at a frenzied rate as knowledge and information sharing becomes easy and is time-saving. Regrettably, the visually impaired do not enjoy this liberty and they are facing difficulties in using computer and the Internet to seize any shared and available information. This difficulty is faced especially among the visually impaired Malay language medium Internet user. Specifically, existing screen reader cannot fully cater for users who need to browse the Malay language web pages. The inability of screen reader narration to enunciate Malay words correctly has become a restriction for the visually impaired to acquire any information in the Malay language. Narration of the words are done by non-Malay speakers and the enunciation of those words confuses and at times, do not help users. Thus, this project addresses this issue by investigating the difficulties for visually impaired Internet user to understand what is spoken when using screen readers without a native Malay narrator or speaker. This project aims to reduce the time needed for the visually impaired to understand the information in the Malay language read by the narrator of the screen reader. This project also strives to develop a screen reader prototype, which is able to read in Bahasa Melayu (BM) using local accent. To achieve all the objectives, preliminary interviews and testing session were conducted to collect data to test the hypothesis made. The findings are then will be used as main source of data to develop a prototype of the screen reader. From the built prototype, user testing will be conducted with a sample group of visually impaired to test the functionalities and evaluate the effectiveness of the software. The results and recommendations will be shared by the end of the project as a key milestone for future enhancement

Bilingual Children\u27s Book

Welcome To My House, Bienvenido a mi casa is a bilingual children’s book that defines and explores the rooms of a house. The book uses simple sentence structure and simple dialogue to engage early level Spanish and English readers. Welcome To My House, Bienvenido a mi casa introduces its intention to the reader before the story begins. On the opening pages the reader is given instructions in English and Spanish on how to read the book in order to appreciate both languages. While this message is written simply enough that a young reader could follow and understand it, the intention is for a teacher or guardian with a higher language skill level who can physically present the points and directions of the book to the reader. The instructions explain that English will always appear in purple and Spanish in blue. The colors allow the reader to visually distinguish the languages and are a constant reminder and comparison of them. The colors were chosen on purpose because of their darkness which allows a bold contrast against a white page and for their similarity which parallels that of the English and Spanish language. Purple and blue are similar but different enough to be contrasting colors. English and Spanish share many similarities such as their alphabets, syntax, and different cognate words and at the same time have varying phonology, punctuation, and morphology. Unlike some bilingual books that place one language at the top of the page and the other at the bottom, I place the languages horizontally parallel to one another. My intention here is that the reader can more easily incorporate both languages in the reading process. In my research of bilingual children’s books I found that following both languages was easier and more accessible when they were closer to one another. Also, the short distance allows the reader to more easily compare and contrast visually the morphology and syntax of the language. The reader is able to follow the sentence structure of his or her own primary language and compare it to that of the other. For example, Leo says to the reader “Welcome to my house!” in English and “¡Bienvenido a mi casa!” in Spanish. As these sentences are parallel, the reader can easily see the differences in punctuation as well as compare vocabulary. He or she will note the differences in the use of the explanation mark and the similarity in the possessive adjectives “my” and “mi”. Additionally, simple sentence structure is used for two purposes. One reason is the opportunity for early level readers in general to practice reading in their primary language. As they are learning to read in their native tongue they can begin to note differences about their language as well as incorporate new vocabulary and understanding of the foreign language. Additionally, simple sentence structure gives an opportunity to those readers who are advanced in their primary language but are beginning to learn the secondary language. Although the reader may be developed in English literature, the skills do not necessarily cross over for Spanish and the reader needs to acquire a feel for the simple structure before moving on to a skill level that is compatible with the primary language. Furthermore the present tense is used through out the plot to maintain simplicity and to reinforce the specific subject verb agreement seen in both languages. By incorporating a first person narrative as well as a family the reader is introduced to the first and third person subjects in their singular and plural forms. These subjects are repeatedly matched with their verb conjugation and constantly exposed to the reader. The reader is then exposed to the similarities in subject verb agreement but the differences in verb conjugation. The simple sentence structure also reflects the chosen plot of the story. The character Leo introduces his house to the reader in order to focus on a specific subject that will be familiar to the reader and provide an opportunity to practice the vocabulary of the secondary language on a regular basis. As the objects are familiar household items the reader is likely to see them in his or her house or other familiar places. Illustration is another key component to the understanding of the plot. I wanted the reader to have visuals as she or he processed the foreign vocabulary. I worked with Jane Brinks to bring colorful characters and vibrant rooms to the storyline. Every aspect of the illustration and characters is meant to reflect the bilingualism. By this I mean I choose to make the characters monsters rather than people in order provide racial ambiguity that would not allow the reader to assume the families’ primary language. Therefore, the reader may interpret Leo as a primary English speaker, Spanish speaker, or bilingual and connect with him on whatever level is most comfortable. Finally the book ends with activities that I created to test the reader’s comprehension as well as reinforce the concepts taught through the plot. There is a matching section which allows the reader to connect the vocabulary with the illustrations. Next there is a multiple choice section which tests the readers understanding of the plot as well display a clear comparison of sentence structure in both languages. Finally, a creative section allows the reader to draw upon personal experiences and actively engage with the book. The reader is asked to draw his or her house and family. Following this the reader will fill in the blank to answer personal questions that relate to the story line. This allows the reader to use vocabulary from the book and practice the languages. From beginning to end the book works to engage, teach, and show readers a world that involves more than one language

Information Extraction From Malay Vehicle Advertisement Text Using Natural Language Processing Techniques.

Some of the vehicle advertisements are represented in textual documents, and it requires a reader to read the entire document and understands its content before the important information can be extracted. This process consumes more time instead of having a system that can extract the important information from the document automatically without the reader needs to read the whole document. In this study, a prototype system was developed to assist a reader to extract important information from the Malay vehicle advertisement by applying natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The NLP techniques that have been used are focused on the syntactic processing

A critical review of two translated isiXhosa children’s texts

Translation of children’s literature requires more than basic translation skills. A translator needs to be an artist and a writer to be a successful translator of children’s literature. Functionalist theories like Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory and Skopos theory advocate that translation needs to focus more on the target language readership. At the same time, it is through the brief emphasised by the Skopos theory that the target audience is understood – their age, level of education, etc. The aim of this presentation is to critically review two translated isiXhosa children’s books, looking at their target reader friendliness. The findings are that most parts of the text are target reader-oriented, though translators at times seem loyal to the source language

Transformative Properties of FDR\u27s Court-packing Plan and the Significance of Symbol

In this Article, I begin by laying a basic theoretical foundation for understanding how language choice provides contextual cues to direct interpretation. Next, I analyze cases that use the Court-Packing Plan language. I argue that these references are intended to trigger a response in the reader that is sympathetic to judicial independence and, in some instances, to judicial incursions into policymaking. I then analyze references to the switch in time language, extracting the arguments about constitutional methodology and judicial activism embedded in that phrase. Here, I argue that the phrase switch in time is deployed to remind the reader of what happens when the Court overreaches and finds it necessary to radically change course or risk permanent institutional damage. Finally, I consider the implications of using both of these phrases in the same opinion. I contend that attention to language choice uncovers how the judiciary uses the institutional clash of the 1930\u27s as a rhetorical tool and reveals how this episode in America\u27s political and legal history entered our culture of argument about our system of government and the role of the judiciary as a constitutional decision-making body within that system

Transformative Properties of FDR\u27s Court-packing Plan and the Significance of Symbol

In this Article, I begin by laying a basic theoretical foundation for understanding how language choice provides contextual cues to direct interpretation. Next, I analyze cases that use the Court-Packing Plan language. I argue that these references are intended to trigger a response in the reader that is sympathetic to judicial independence and, in some instances, to judicial incursions into policymaking. I then analyze references to the switch in time language, extracting the arguments about constitutional methodology and judicial activism embedded in that phrase. Here, I argue that the phrase switch in time is deployed to remind the reader of what happens when the Court overreaches and finds it necessary to radically change course or risk permanent institutional damage. Finally, I consider the implications of using both of these phrases in the same opinion. I contend that attention to language choice uncovers how the judiciary uses the institutional clash of the 1930\u27s as a rhetorical tool and reveals how this episode in America\u27s political and legal history entered our culture of argument about our system of government and the role of the judiciary as a constitutional decision-making body within that system

Schema Theory And L2 Reading Comprehension: Implications For Teaching

Reading is a multileveled and interactive process in which readers construct a meaningful representation of text using their schemata.  While it has been known for some time that both content and formal schemata are necessary for a complete understanding of written texts in a reader’s first language (L1), and has been suspected to be true in a reader’s second language (L2), it is still an area that has been generally ignored by both researchers and classroom teachers.  The purpose of this paper is threefold.  The first is to give a brief overview of some of the literature that deals with schema theory as part of a reader centered psycholinguistic processing model for both native and non-native readers.  The second goal is to show how familiarity with the subject matter (i.e., content schema) as one aspect of schema theory, affects L2 reading comprehension.  The third goal is to discuss the implications of schema theory in L2 classrooms

THE ROLE OF ARTISTIC DESCRIPTION IN THE EXPRESSION OF CONTENT

The artistic description, with its quality, gives the text a new poetic character and provides an interpretation of the content in the aesthetic structure. The description not only increased the artistic and aesthetic quality of literary works, but also enriched them in terms of language and style. Like many writers who took advantage of the descriptive potential of the Azerbaijani language, which is characteristic of the early twentieth century, Seyid Hussein also created successful poetic figures. Based on his creative style, he formed a unique style of description, and in this regard, managed to create authentic works at the level of figurative literary and artistic language. In Seyid Hussein's stories, the description is multifaceted and has become an expression form of different attitudes, feelings and thoughts. Using description methods, the writer not only narrates the subject, does not draw the external and internal qualities of the images, does not give a poetic picture of place and time. He delivers to the reader the psychological moods of characters, their effects on their situations and actions, feelings and thoughts to the reader in a poetic language. Artistic description played the role of illuminating the dark worlds of the characters in the stories.The artistic description, with its quality, gives the text a new poetic character and provides an interpretation of the content in the aesthetic structure. The description not only increased the artistic and aesthetic quality of literary works, but also enriched them in terms of language and style. Like many writers who took advantage of the descriptive potential of the Azerbaijani language, which is characteristic of the early twentieth century, Seyid Hussein also created successful poetic figures. Based on his creative style, he formed a unique style of description, and in this regard, managed to create authentic works at the level of figurative literary and artistic language. In Seyid Hussein's stories, the description is multifaceted and has become an expression form of different attitudes, feelings and thoughts. Using description methods, the writer not only narrates the subject, does not draw the external and internal qualities of the images, does not give a poetic picture of place and time. He delivers to the reader the psychological moods of characters, their effects on their situations and actions, feelings and thoughts to the reader in a poetic language. Artistic description played the role of illuminating the dark worlds of the characters in the stories